A drone video published by a Russian media outlet with close ties to leading Kremlin-sponsored television news channels shows the extent of destruction of Homs, Syria, after nearly five years of war.

The sweeping aerial footage, filmed by RussiaWorks and uploaded on Jan. 24, gives a rare view of Syria's third largest city, which was once home to more than 1 million people, but is now crumbling and deserted.

Remarkably, the drone shows signs of life in this desolate landscape. Three young boys can be seen laughing on a road amid the ruins. A white sedan zips around what once could have been a busy intersection.

The video, which could not be authenticated by Mashable, was deleted from YouTube on Tuesday. But clips shared on social media remain available.

In 2011, Homs was the "center of the revolution" that tried to overthrow Syrian President Bashar Assad. Under the control of the opposition, Assad's forces targeted the city with heavy bombardments, rockets and barrel bombs, reducing Homs to mounds of dusty rubble and ghostly shells of buildings.

In 2012, Marie Colvin, an American journalist who worked for The Sunday Times, described the attacks on Homs as "shelling with impunity, with merciless disregard for civilians." A day later, she was killed in a regime attack.

The Syrian conflict has claimed the lives of some 250,000 people, according to the United Nations. More than half of the country's population of 22 million has been displaced. Millions have fled to neighboring countries and Europe.

Government forces have since managed to retake control of Homs and push out what opposition forces remained. Backing them is the Russian military, which began its own campaign of airstrikes in Syria last September.

Since then, Moscow has stepped up its propaganda in an attempt to bolster domestic support for the air strikes, with Kremlin-loyal outfits publishing video footage showing cities and towns reportedly destroyed by rebels, even though most have been destroyed by the Syrian regime itself.

RussiaWorks did not say when the footage of Homs was recorded, but the upload date was from last month.

The company, headed by Russian Alexander Pushin, specializes in producing drone footage. Pushin has published other videos from Syria, including the one below purporting to show the devastation in the Syrian capital of Damascus.

And this one, which looks at the city of Sheikh Miskeen, which was reportedly taken by Syrian government forces last month.

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